Version control

Many documents require version control, such as; standard operating procedures, policies, externally visible documents, procedures, frequently asked questions, etc.

Version control provides the ability to have a version that is current for general dissemination - current version - but you will still be able to have revisions and version control for a document not yet ready for general dissemination against the same record number version.

For example, consider a retail outlet's price list. Day to day, customers will use the current price list. The marketing staff draft next year's price list.

For this, they create a new version of the price list and subsequent revisions for it.

So, the current version is actually the currently published version which translates in Content Manager concepts to the most recent version that was made Final.

For this functionality to be available, the feature Record Versions must be selected in the System Options Features page.

The administrator may configure Content Manager to use version numbering by selecting the Use Version Numbering when creating new Versions option in the Record Type Properties dialogue, Numbering page.

If this option is selected, a new version of a record will retain the same stem number as the previous version, but gets an incremental version number appended to it in the format [vX].

NOTE: Version numbering is only available for a Record Type that does not currently use part numbering.

See Record Type Numbering page for further details.

It is common practice to declare a version as final once it has been published. If further work needs to be done on the document, a new version is created.

The system administrator may configure Content Manager so that the previous version is automatically finalised when a new version is created by using the Finalise the previous version when creating a new version option in the Record Type Properties dialogue, Electronic page.

See Record Type Electronic page for further details.

The option Purge old revisions of the previous version in the Record Type Properties dialogue, Electronic page will automatically remove all old revisions - unless they have been marked for preservation - from the previous version when it is finalised automatically.

  • The version that has been published and finalised represents the current version in the scenario described above.
  • The new version that has been created is still considered a work in progress until it is finalised and published, as well. Therefore, Content Manager provides navigation and view pane options called
    • All Versions - will display all versions regardless of their edit status
    • Current Version - will display the last version that has a finalised status
    • Latest Version - will display the last version that has been created regardless of its edit status